A squadron of Ukrainian air-dropped “kamikaze ground robots” behind enemy lines eliminated 3,000 Russian troops and recaptured 48 square miles of occupied territory in Donetsk, officials announced. The secret mission, called “Operation Vivaldi,” began in May and concluded last week, when the Third Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces made public the details of the feat. “A historic moment,” he boasted on Telegram on Thursday. “The Third Army Corps has begun a new stage of the war with the landing of ground robots.” The Ukrainian army airdropped ground robots behind the front line to eliminate 3,000 Russian soldiers. ab3.army The operation recaptured five villages and three settlements in the disputed Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, one of two provinces that make up the mineral-rich industrial Donbas that tyrant Vladimir Putin wants to seize. Russia currently occupies about 80% of Donetsk. “We are the first in the world to use this tactic: launching ground robots,” General Andrii Biletskyi, commander of the Army’s Third Corps, said on YouTube. Bomber drones were used to launch the small but powerful unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs, up to 14 kilometers behind the Russian front line. The operation recaptured five villages and three settlements in the disputed Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. ab3.army Cameras mounted atop the four-wheeled robots captured the surprise operation. The unit completed more than 15,700 missions, targeting Russian command posts, shelters, logistics centers and river crossings. “The enemy expects the threat from heaven, not from earth,” Biletskyi said. “Where the enemy least expected, dead and wounded Russian soldiers appeared.”
